Rambling Through the Woods
by TatraMegami
Summary: Pansy Parkinson gets lost in the Forbidden Forest with Looney Luna Lovegood. With Death Eaters, werewolves, gytrashes, and Harry Potter, Pansy is sure that they won't make it out of the forest alive. AU during book 6.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I do not own Harry Potter. It's important that you know that. This is set as an AU taking place during the Half Blood Prince, so spoilers. Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Unexpected things

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Pansy cursed Draco as she wandered through the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest; he kept pushing her away and she was getting tired of it. She knew that he had something to do for the Dark Lord, but didn't he see that she could help him? He didn't have to do it all on his own and maybe then he would have time to actually spend with her. Oh, it wasn't about the romance, she honestly didn't even really like Draco, but how could she be the Queen of Slytherin if the King never acknowledged her?

Then again, Draco really hadn't been keeping court lately; maybe she could steal the court away from him? Still, "That stubborn git is ruining everything," Pansy muttered.

"That's because he has an Emuleth after him, it's making him cranky," a voice called out, dreamy and light. Pansy turned around and scowled at the fifth year Ravenclaw.

"Loony, what are you doing out here?" Pansy demanded. "Surely you're not spying on me?

"I wasn't spying on you and don't call me Shirley," Luna answered. She smiled at Pansy, "I'm on my way to visit someone."

"In the Forbidden Forest?" Pansy raised her eyebrow.

Luna shrugged. "It's as good a place as any. Would you care to walk with me?"

"Why would I want to walk with you?" Pansy sneered at the girl. She was there to vent about Draco and she wasn't about to do that in front of anyone, let alone a crazy Ravenclaw.

"Because it's dangerous out here and it's safer in numbers," Luna pointed out.

Pansy scoffed. "If it's so dangerous, then what are you doing out here for? Besides, I can take care of myself."

Luna opened her mouth, probably to make some inane comment or another, when a growl rumbled through the clearing. Pansy froze and stared over Luna's shoulder at the large wolf standing at the edge of the clearing. "Loony, don't move."

So, of course, Luna calmly turned around to look at the large wolf. "That's a werewolf."

"It's daytime, that can't be a werewolf," Pansy hissed back, wondering how the blonde could be so relaxed.

Luna tilted her head. "It looks like a werewolf to me, with the grey birdies and everything. Maybe the full moon came up early?"

"It doesn't work that way." Pansy lightly shook her head, deciding to focus on the more pressing problem. "We have to get away, but we can't run or it will attack."

Luna was fumbling with something in her pocket. Pansy's eyes widened as Luna lay down a whole ferret before backing up until she reached Pansy. The Slytherin sixth year grabbed a hold of Luna's arm and pulled on it as she started to back away from the clearing. "That should distract him, the birdies are looking at the food," Luna quietly said as they entered the trees.

The werewolf still hadn't moved, watching them with bright golden eyes. Pansy honestly doubted that the werewolf would go for a small ferret instead of two young women, but she wasn't going to argue with Luna just yet; maybe in the afterworld. "We need to be a distance away before we can start to run," Pansy whispered back. She was fairly sure that Loony wouldn't run, but who really knew what the blond would do.

"Engorgio," Luna whispered, pointing her wand at the ferret. The animal grew several sizes bigger and the werewolf finally focused its eyes on the ferret.

Pansy took a chance and whirled around. She snagged Luna's hand and pulled her along as she made her way deeper into the forest. They weren't running, they couldn't run just yet, but they were practically jogging in their attempts to get away from the werewolf. She heard the sound of ripping flesh and she knew that the werewolf would be occupied for a short time, at the least.

They started running when they were several meters away from the clearing. Unfortunately, they were running deeper into the Forbidden forest instead of over to Hogwarts, but that couldn't be helped. The werewolf had been closer to Hogwarts than they had been and getting away from the werewolf had been the priority. Besides, they needed the coverage that the denser parts of the woods had instead of the free space near Hogwarts. A werewolf could get at them easier if it didn't have to dodge trees.

To Pansy's surprise, Luna kept up with her speed after they started running. The blonde Ravenclaw had no trouble with letting Pansy lead, either. Pansy knew enough about dark creatures to avoid the worst of them in the forest; she veered off whenever she realized that they were close to recent tracks. Finally, just as they started tripping over things, she decided that they had probably lost the werewolf.

They came to a stop inside a tight copse of trees, surrounded by even more trees. It was the perfect place to take a break, a place that they could defend. "We're dead," Pansy said as soon as she caught her breath. "There's no way that we can make it back to Hogwarts alive; we're dead."

"We're still breathing and the werewolf won't know where to find us if we keep moving," Luna pointed out. "The little birdies can't see us."

"What is with you and those little birdies?" Pansy snapped before she could stop herself. She finally let go of Luna's hand, halfway wondering why the Ravenclaw hadn't protested beforehand, and threw her arms up in the air. "Of course the werewolf won't find us; I have no idea where we are, I wouldn't even be able to find us if I needed to."

"Of course you would be able to; you can always find yourself when you are lost, it just takes a bit of looking," Luna replied.

"Well good luck looking," Pansy huffed.

"I don't need to look," Luna replied, "I know just where we are."

"Really?" Pansy perked up; Luna was crazy enough that it was fairly believable that the girl actually knew the way around the Forbidden Forest.

"We're right here, inside this shelter of trees." Luna patted Pansy on her shoulder when the Slytherin girl deflated in slight disappointment. "Don't worry, we're perfectly safe and we can get back to Hogwarts with barely any trouble at all."

"How?" Pansy demanded. "Face it, we're dead."

"We just have to walk back to the Castle and the Forbidden Forest isn't that bad, really." Luna twirled some of her bangs around with her wand. "If you avoid the spiders, blood sucking bugbears, and werewolves, that is. The Bowtruckles, Thestrals, and Gytrash aren't so bad."

"We're dead," Pansy repeated, blinking her eyes.

"The Forbidden Forest is a wonderful place; come on, I'll show you." Luna smiled at Pansy and took her hand. Pansy was surprised to find that Luna was fairly strong and managed to drag her out of the copse of trees.

"We're dead anyway," Pansy signed to herself as she finally started following alongside Luna. If they were going to die anyway, then she might as well let the Loony girl show her around. Luna expertly made her way around the forest; she looked like she was simply meandering along even as she ducked around the sharp branches that were in their way. Pansy sighed and let the girl lead, although she was starting to get nervous again.

This time her nervousness wasn't about the animals that were going to eat them; this was because it was starting to darken in the forest. Death would come quicker in the darkness, when more of the beasts came out to find food. The worst part was that they wouldn't even get that much of a warning before they were attacked, Pansy decided.

"It's getting dark," Luna commented when they paused for a minute to catch their breath.

"I can see that," Pansy snapped back.

"We're almost there." Luna gave Pansy another smile before she started walking again. Pansy halfway considered pulling her hand away from the Ravenclaw and wait for the creature to come for her. But, she was a Slytherin and Slytherins never gave up; they also never acted on plans if someone else was already providing the plan for them.

It steadily got darker with every step that they took, although Pansy suspected that part of it was the dense mess of branches above their heads. She was startled when she saw a soft glow up ahead. It didn't look like it was from a fire or any source of light she had ever seen; rather it was a soft, diffused blue light that was shining through the trees. "What's that?" Pansy asked Luna, dragging her feet slightly.

"Come see," Luna urged, speeding up just a bit.

They approached the trees near the glow and Pansy gasped as soon as she saw the clearing behind the trees. What seemed like hundreds of unicorns were all clustered in the clearing. Some were roaming around, but most of them were resting. For a moment Pansy thought that the light came from the full moon, but she glanced up at the sky and found that it was pitch black. There was still light in the clearing though, and she realized that it came from the unicorns.

"Unicorns glow in the dark during the new moon," Luna whispered. She tugged Pansy into the clearing, past the first sleeping unicorn and then let go of the Slytherin's hand to dart deeper into the glory of unicorns. She seemed to be dancing, twirling through the glow put off by the unicorns.

Pansy blinked at the sight before traveling deeper into the glory of unicorns herself. She met up with Luna somewhere in the middle of the clearing and Luna once again took her hand. "This way," Luna whispered as she led Pansy over to where the golden foals slept. "They protect their foals, so they will protect us if we stay here for the night."

"You really are crazy," Pansy said, staring at the blond even as she sunk down to the ground.

Luna laughed, clear and bright, as she curled up on the ground next to a foal. Pansy shook her head, but settled down next to the Ravenclaw. She could tell that Luna fell asleep right away, but Pansy stayed awake, staring at the swirling light coming off of the unicorns.

She couldn't believe that this had happened; all she wanted was a moment alone to curse out her boyfriend and instead she found herself lost in the middle of the Forbidden Forest with the one person she had least expected. She had been so sure that they were going to die, and she still thought that was the logical conclusion, but they had found shelter for the night. _It was possible that they would make it out of the forest alive_, Pansy mused, already half asleep,_ after all, the blonde hung out with Harry Potter: Boy Impossible._ Maybe some of that luck rubbed off onto Luna and they could use that to find their way home. _And then Pansy was going to beat Draco up for getting them into this in the first place._


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: It always makes me pouty to update a fic that has no reviews. But, I have decided to keep posting more chapters when I want, because I do love this story. :D

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Chapter 2: Canine Encounters

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When Pansy woke up it was morning and she was still lost in the Forbidden Forest with Loony Luna. The Unicorns were no longer glowing, looking as pure white as they did in their Care of Magical Creatures class. Luna was already awake and seemed to be dancing with the foals. The adult unicorns didn't seem to mind Luna, which really didn't surprise Pansy. What did surprise her, however, was the unicorn foal that nudged her when she sat up, looking to her for some attention.

Pansy obligingly petted the unicorn as she tried to figure out what to do next. They survived a night in the Forbidden Forest, which was more than she had expected, but they really couldn't live with the unicorns. She still had her wand, although she didn't know about Luna, they could send flares up and stay with the unicorns until they were rescued. The only problem with that, though, was that flares depended on someone looking for them and there was no guarantee that anyone at Hogwarts would see the flares. Pansy wouldn't be missed until classes started on Monday and she doubted that anyone would honestly miss the Loony, which meant that they had two more days until people noticed that they were missing. No one would notice the sparks above the Forbidden Forest and it might in fact attract bad things over good.

Their best bet, really, was to make it back to Hogwarts on their own without dying. Pansy really wasn't sure if that was possible, but she was a Slytherin and Slytherins were ambitious. Luna was too odd to really care that it would be impossible to get back alive; therefore they had a pretty good chance.

"Luna, we're going back to Hogwarts and we're not allowed to die," Pansy said as she got up and strode over to where the blond was dancing.

"Really? Even if we come across some plain cloth? I really don't like plain things." Luna paused in her dancing and pouted at Pansy.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Just as long as we don't visit the other side, you can do what you want. Remember, safety and staying alive is the key, so don't do anything stupid." Pansy glanced around the clearing, trying to pinpoint where they had entered. "Now, do you know the way out of here?"

Luna glanced around with wide eyes. "You could probably pick any tree to pass by, but I'm afraid that going over or under a tree might take too long."

Pansy frowned and decided to ignore the tree comment. "I thought you might know the way back to Hogwarts."

"Why would you think that?" Luna blinked, confused.

"You knew the way over to this clearing and the unicorns," Pansy pointed out.

"Knowing and finding are two different things," Luna replied, twirling around once more.

"So, find our way back to Hogwarts." Pansy resisted the urge to throw her hands up in the air, not wanting to startle away the unicorns.

"Let's see. London is that way," Luna tilted her head to her left, "the moon is that way," Luna pointed towards the ground and Pansy rolled her eyes, "the flying monkeys are that way," Luna pointed straight up and Pansy couldn't help but glance up at the blue sky, "and Hogwarts is that way," Luna kind of waved her arm around so that it was hard for Pansy to figure out where Luna was pointing exactly, "so, we should go between those trees." Luna pointed straight ahead.

"You couldn't have done it without the long list of where things are?" Pansy asked, unconsciously checking the sky for flying monkeys once more.

"How else would I know where I was going if I didn't know where I've gone?" Luna replied.

"You've been to Hogwarts before." Pansy decided not to mention that flying monkeys weren't a place.

"It's a marvelous old building and the Forbidden Forest is fascinating. I've always wondered what it would be like to travel through it with a friend." Luna smiled at Pansy and skipped forward before Pansy could give a scathing comment in reply.

"We are not friends," Pansy muttered, only following after the girl to have someone around to toss as bait. She held her wand at the ready as they slipped between the trees, ignoring the sparks that Luna was making as she twirled her own wand.

It was slightly darker inside the trees and Pansy ignored all of the rustling to be heard through the woods and above their head. As long as they didn't attack, creatures could scurry around as much as they wanted, in Pansy's opinion. Luna seemed to notice the rustlings in so much as to label each unseen animal as a Dorngwagnit, or a Peopleplanter, or a Firesnubben. Pansy actually found that she didn't mind Luna's ramblings too much, as they distracted her from all of her daydreams of dying.

It took Pansy a while before she realized that something was following them through the bushes, it took her a bit longer to realize that it was larger than the small animals in the forest. She latched onto Luna's arm – not because she was afraid, but because she didn't want the blond to be killed before she could use the girl as a shield. Luna shot her an odd look, but she continued rambling on and talking to various trees.

"We're being followed," Pansy said when Luna paused for a breath.

"Really?" Luna asked as she turned around. Pansy tugged on her arm, trying to get her to stop, but Luna ignored her and peered into the bushes. "Come on out, little fellow."

"Loony, we've got to keep moving," Pansy hissed as she once again tugged on Luna's arm. Then whatever it was in the bushes came out of the bushes and she stopped, not daring to move. "Loony!"

"I know what you are, you're a Gytrash. I told Daddy that I saw some in the forest, but no one else believed me. They aren't actually that rare, but they usually haunt solitary places and the forest is anything but that," Luna rambled on as the large, dark hound paced closer to them.

"Loony, we don't have time to deal with monstrous dogs," Pansy said. Not to mention that she really didn't want to be killed by a dead dog.

"Gytrash really aren't that bad. They're misunderstood because they look so scary, but they really can be quite gentle." Luna ignored Pansy's frantic attempts to stop her as she went up to the dog and patted its head. Pansy expected the dog to bite Luna's hand off, but the dog seemed to love it.

"Okay, if we are done petting the monstrous dog, then why don't we head back to Hogwarts," Pansy suggested as she backed away a few steps. She had let Luna pet the dog for a couple of minutes, but she still couldn't get over the feeling that it was going to attack them.

"Do you think you can take us home?" Luna asked the gytrash. The gytrash tilted its head at her and whined a little. Luna shrugged and stepped back from the dog. "It was worth a try," Luna brightly told Pansy.

"Let's just go and try not to die," Pansy sighed. She took Luna's arm once again, so that the blond wouldn't stick with the dog and started walking again.

The dog watched them go, whining in confusion. Just as they reached the edge of the small clearing, about to vanish into the trees, it bounded forward and head-butted Pansy's legs. Pansy let out a small shriek, expecting the dog claws and teeth at any moment, but instead she got dog drool on her face. The large dog grinned at her and licked her face again.

"He likes you," Luna said, sounding absolutely delighted as she clapped her hands together.

"It's trying to eat me," Pansy said as she wiped the dog drool off of her face. She was thankful that she hadn't really worn a lot of make up the day before, as it would have been ruined now.

"See, I told you that gytrashes were nice creatures," Luna said, completely ignoring Pansy's grumblings. "It wants to help us get home."

"Can it really?" Pansy shot the dog a skeptical look as she got up from the ground. The dog barked and bounced around the small trail they were on. "It looks like a puppy."

"That's the perfect name for you, right, Puppy?" Luna asked, patting the dog that was almost as big as she was.

Pansy groaned, "We can't adopt a gytrash."

"We're not adopting it, its adopting us," Luna replied. "Come on, Puppy, show us the way we need to go."

The gytrash let out a happy bark and bounded ahead of them. It ran forward a bit before pausing to make sure that they were following them. Pansy sighed, but decided that it wasn't like they had any real idea of where they were going. "Might as well follow it."

"Good job, Puppy," Luna chirped as she skipped over to where the gytrash was waiting. Pansy followed after her, keeping an eye out for any more surprises.

They didn't encounter any other creature while following the gytrash, despite the amount of noise that it and Luna made. Pansy was willing to bet that the large spectral hound scared off all of the other creatures that would attack them. That slightly worried her, because they were in the company of the creature scaring everything off, but, if one ignored the drool, there really wasn't anything bad about the gytrash.

The gytrash finally stopped in front of yet another small clearing and looked back as if to reassure them all before he bounced into the clearing. Pansy narrowed her eyes and brushed her way in front of Luna to enter the clearing first. This was clearly not Hogwarts that the dog found and that meant that it probably wasn't safe.

She was glad that she entered the clearing before Luna, because she was fairly sure that the blond would try to pet the three headed dog that was standing right in front of her. The three heads of the dog growled at her and Pansy took a step back, forcing Luna back with her. The gytrash whined, obviously not expecting the sudden tension.

"Oooh," Luna said, peering over Pansy's shoulder. "Harry told me about this one."

"Potter knows that there is a three headed dog in the forbidden forest?" Pansy demanded.

"Well, he said that it was in Hogwarts when he knew it," Luna answered.

"That thing was in Hogwarts?" Pansy stared at the dog that towered over the gytrash. "I would have noticed a giant dog at Hogwarts before."

"He said that it was his first year," Luna answered, pressing against Pansy as she stared at the three headed dog.

"The third floor corridor?" Pansy asked as the dots connected together in her mind. It was the only thing that made sense. No wonder Potter was knocked out if he was trying to play with this dog.

"He belongs to Hagrid and his name is Fluffy," Luna said absently as she tried to remember the story.

"Fluffy, that's even worse than a gytrash named Puppy," Pansy grumbled. And people wondered why the Slytherins were so against Hagrid.

The dog growled at them again, clearly becoming impatient. It started stalking forward, getting ready to attack. Pansy took another step back, being careful not to stumble on Luna. Puppy race forward until he was standing in front of Pansy and Luna, protecting them.

"Harry said that they had to get past Fluffy to get something, he said that they figured out how to put him to sleep," Luna said as they took another step back.

"Well, what is it?" Pansy demanded.

"Music," Luna exclaimed. "It falls asleep when it hears music."

"I don't have an instrument hiding in my robe pocket, do you?" Pansy demanded.

"Sing! Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down," Luna sang. The three headed dog paused, and crouched down. Luna took a breath and started to sing it again.

Pansy joined in this time around, "Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down." A part of her wondered why Luna had chosen such a morbid song, a song that was known to both wizards and muggles alike. Pansy knew it by heart, even beyond the fact that it was such a short song. Purebloods loved the ditty because it referred to their triumph in finding a cure for the disease when so many muggles died from it. Muggles mostly used the song as a game for children.

Their combined singing worked and the three heads dropped as the dog fell asleep. Pansy gave the gytrash a pointed look as they quietly backed out of the clearing. The gytrash stayed silent as it followed them, not waking up the sleeping three headed dog. Pansy waited until they were out of earshot before they started running once more.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Yay, I have readers! :D Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Arachnophobia

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They walked until Pansy's stomach started complaining of hunger, or, rather, until Pansy got tired of feeling hungry. She came to a halt and Luna followed suit after Puppy ran back to Pansy when it noticed that she wasn't there anymore.

"Is something wrong?" Luna asked. She peered at Pansy in concern. "Has a Freon got you by your ankles?"

"I'm hungry." Pansy looked up at the little patch of sky that she could see through the branches. "It's got to be past lunchtime and we haven't eaten since yesterday. I just want to take a break."

"Want breakfast?" Luna offered, holding out what looked like a packaged waffle.

"What on earth is that?" Pansy asked as she wrinkled her nose. The packaging was all clear, which meant that it was clearly not a wizarding item.

"Waffles," Luna answered, tossing the package over to Pansy.

"I can see that," Pansy sniped back as she turned the waffles over in her hand. The packaging crinkled and she frowned in distaste. "But where did you get it?"

"From my dad, he found it when he was trying to track down a pink panther. He thought that it might draw out some creatures here at Hogwarts, so he sent them to me," Luna explained through a mouthful of waffle.

"But why are you carrying them around?" Pansy asked, waiting for Luna to keel over from the muggle food.

Luna shrugged. "Agent Ninety-Nine, our owl, delivered them at lunch yesterday and I was just going out to try them when we met."

"I've got one last question," Pansy asked as she finally broke down and opened the waffles. She pinned Luna with a look. "Why didn't you bring these out earlier, after we had woken up and it was clearly breakfast time?"

"Because it wasn't waffle time," Luna answered.

"It wasn't waffle time, that makes perfect sense," Pansy muttered to herself. She finally bit into a corner of the waffle, halfway expecting that a single bite would kill her. She chewed and swallowed and didn't die. She waited a moment later, but all that got her was the gytrash giving her puppy dog eyes in hopes that it would get some of her waffle. Pansy scowled and took another, larger, bite of the waffle. It still didn't kill her and it actually tasted pretty good, so she ate the rest of it.

She shoved the wrapper into her pocket and turned to see Luna, who was playing with Puppy near the edge of the clearing. Pansy ran her fingers through her hair, making sure that she didn't look too bad, before striding across the small clearing to reach the girl and the dog's side. "Let's get moving."

"Right," Luna chirped out. She started humming a cheerful song, Weasley is Our King, if Pansy remembered the tune right. Pansy shrugged before humming along, mentally singing the words that she had come up with more than a year ago.

They continued on through the forest, watching out for all of the creatures that they didn't want to come in contact with and some animals that Luna tried to come in contact with. It was actually surprisingly easier to travel with the gytrash, despite the fact that the spectral hound never seemed to keep quiet for long. It was about as hyper as Luna was, especially after they had eaten the waffles. Pansy had a hard time keeping the girl in line, reminding her time and time again that the goal was to get back to Hogwarts alive instead of being gored by a manta-whatever it was.

Pansy had no idea that so many interesting creatures lived in the forbidden forest, at least according to Luna. After humming Weasley is Our King until Pansy got sick of it, the blonde went back to rambling about all of the creatures in the forest and why no one knew the truth about them. Pansy grew sick of this, too, but at least it was more entertaining than Weasley is Our King.

It slowly grew dark over the afternoon, which meant that they were coming up on spending a whole twenty four hours in the Forbidden Forest. Pansy was surprised that they were still alive, yet she knew that the forest really wasn't as dangerous as everyone claimed. The problem was that the stories did have some truth to them, especially when one went deeper into the forest. There was also the simple fact that they honestly should have been back at Hogwarts by now. They had run in an almost straight line into the forest and while they had taken a bit of a detour between the unicorns and the three headed dog, they should have found their way back to Hogwarts by mid-afternoon at the most.

Pansy kept that worry to herself, however, knowing that the blonde wouldn't even think of it while she was distracted. Luckily, though, Luna kept herself fairly distracted between naming every imaginary creature she saw and playing with Puppy. Pansy felt almost sort of bad when she went to burst Luna's bubble as it darkened even further.

"We'll need to find shelter soon," Pansy pointed out. "It's getting dark again."

"We're a bit far from the presence of unicorns," Luna said as she thought. "But, we might be able to find another safe place."

"We should be close to Hogwarts by now," Pansy said. She thought about using a Point Me spell, but she didn't want to tempt any magic sensitive creatures when they were out in the open.

"But not close enough," Luna finished. Puppy growled and Luna absently turned to see what the hound was growling at. "Pansy," the blonde calmly said, "are you terrified by spiders by any chance?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Pansy asked, not daring to look. If she didn't look and she didn't see, then it didn't exist.

"I only ask because Ronald's terrified of spiders and I'm sure that he would be useless in a time such as this. You see, that's a fairly large spider." Luna had backed away while she talked until she was pressed against Pansy.

Pansy finally looked and agreed with Luna, "That is a large damned spider." The arachnid was almost as large as the carriages that brought the students up to Hogwarts and it was looking at them as though they were dinner.

"Acromantulas, Harry also told me about their being in the forest," Luna reported, her voice only now having a slight edge to it.

"Did he mention how he was able to defeat said Acromantulas?" Pansy asked as they continued to back away. Even if she didn't think that using magic would bring them to other creature's attentions, she still didn't know which spells would actually work on the giant spider. She was pretty good with defensive and offensive magic, she was a Slytherin after all, but magical creatures were usually resistant to curses.

"He ran," Luna answered. "We might have a chance at it, though – we're pretty good at running."

"I'm getting tired of running," Pansy said. They had been running for what seemed like forever, running into the forest and away from the werewolf, running from three headed dogs, and now they had to run from a giant spider of all things. Still, they weren't dead just yet and that had to count for something.

"It's a bit necessary, though, I believe that the Rotfang organization is trying to dig its claws into the Forbidden Forest in an attempt to overrun Hogwarts," Luna said.

"Yeah, not now," Pansy cautioned Luna. She sized the Acromantula up and nodded to herself. She had no choice, she had to use magic. She grabbed Luna's hand in preparation to make a run for it and cast a conjunctivitis curse at the giant spider. While the spider bellowed in pain and anger, Pansy and Luna started running, the gytrash right behind them.

The spider pursued them after giving them a bit of a head start due to its pain. Pansy chanced a glance backwards when the way ahead of them was clear enough to do so and saw that she had gotten most of the creature's eyes. The Acromantula was now relying on its side eyes and its other senses. Pansy was just glad that they hadn't run into its nest, or else it would be able to track them even better.

"We're not going to make it," Pansy gasped out. They were running the wrong way to get back to Hogwarts, other creatures were sure to be attracted to the conjunctivitis curse, and the trees were only barely slowing the giant spider down. It was all doomed to failure and they would die; it was as simple as that. Still, Pansy focused on their gytrash loping ahead of them and continued running with Luna.

Now would be the time to shove the Ravenclaw so that she would fall down and hopefully distract the spider long enough for Pansy to get away. But, as much as Pansy hated to admit it, Luna was actually kind of useful. Plus, it would take too much effort to get her hand out of the girl's death grip and the spider would probably just wrap Luna up and continue to hunt down Pansy. It just wasn't worth it, so Pansy shoved that thought out of her mind.

They were now running in the dark, which didn't help the two girls. The Acromantula was blind, it had no use for the light, and it was used to hunting in the dark anyway. It was the gytrash that kept them going, though, Pansy could hear it in the dark, running just ahead of him. Puppy created enough noise for Pansy and Luna to follow its lead and so they didn't run into as many trees as they would have. It was still uncertain enough that Pansy felt that both of her hands and her legs were scratched up from all of the collisions with the rough bark of the trees and the sharp branches of the bushes.

When she first saw the light, Pansy thought that the sun was rising. She shook that thought away as being illogical and idiotic. The second thought that ran through her head was that a rescue team from Hogwarts had found them and her hopes rose. Then she saw past the bright light and saw that it was just another creature.

She was going to swerve around it and continue running – it looked as though it were a true horseless carriage, not something pulled by Thestrals – but Luna tugged her to a stop. "Loony, we're now trapped between two sets of monsters, if you haven't been paying attention," Pansy almost shouted.

"We've got to get in," Luna said, her eyes locked onto the creature in front of them.

"Are you crazy?" Pansy hissed, ignoring the irony of that question. She looked at the horseless carriage again to find that one of its doors was open.

"Trust me; it won't hurt us," Luna said, tugging on Pansy's arm once more.

"If we're killed I'm totally blaming you," Pansy said as she consented and followed Luna to the horseless carriage. The gytrash was already sitting inside and he didn't seem to be harmed, so Pansy lost some of her reluctance to get in with Luna.

The door slammed shut on its own and the horseless carriage took off, racing away from the enraged Acromantula. "Hogwarts, please," Luna chirped and Pansy collapsed onto the lumpy seat cushions. The horseless carriage put on an extra burst of speed and soon Pansy could see no signs of the giant spider at all. Of course, they were now trapped inside the belly of a different beast.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: The halfway point. :D

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Chapter 4: So Close

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Pansy waited for the horseless carriage to do something about them, but it seemed to have forgotten that it had even stopped for them. Still, they were going in the direction that they wanted to go in once again. Pansy had even taken the chance to do a quick Point Me spell to make sure that they were near Hogwarts. The horseless carriage was heading almost straight towards the castle, only deviating to make its way around trees and other obstructions.

Luna and Puppy were curled up on the seats, sleeping. Luna had assured Pansy that she had trusted the creature they were riding in, telling her that Harry had ridden in it before. _'Luna puts a lot of stock into Potter,_' Pansy thought before turning her mind back to the horseless carriage. It clearly was magical, as there was enough room for both Luna and Pansy to spread out on the seat with the gytrash curled up in between them. It was bigger on the inside than the outside, and Pansy felt that meant something, if she could only remember what. It was something that a muggleborn student was rambling about before the older students shut her down, Pansy sleepily remembered as her eyes slid shut.

When she woke up again, it was morning and she could tell that they were closer to Hogwarts, as the trees that she could see streaking past the window were not as dense as the trees that they had slogged through earlier on. The gytrash was still sleeping, but Luna was awake and watching out the other window.

"Hello," the Ravenclaw greeted as Pansy sat up.

"How close to Hogwarts do you think we are?" Pansy asked, wiping her face to try and wake up some more. She felt a pang of sorrow at the state of her makeup; she must look horrible by this point.

"I can see the Whiplogs now; they feed on human emotions, but they always stay at a certain distance from human population," Luna answered.

"So, we're fairly close," Pansy replied, not bothering to protest Luna's unique way of viewing the world. From the reflection in the window she could see Luna turn and grin at her, but she also ignored that bit of strangeness.

The creature that they were in showed no signs of knowing that they were in its belly, even when the gytrash woke up and started jumping everywhere. It continued moving for most of the morning, taking them closer and closer to Hogwarts.

"It'll be good to get back," Luna mused.

"The first thing I'm going to do is take a shower," Pansy said.

"I'll have to find my shampoo," Luna replied.

"Find your shampoo?" Pansy asked, blinking in surprise.

"It was missing this morning, but I'm sure to find it," Luna answered, blinking in reply. "If not, I'll only ask the house elves for some more."

"You know, I could probably teach you a few hexes to protect your things," Pansy mused to herself more than to Luna. It would have to be in a place where no one would see them together, but it wouldn't' take up too much of her time. Most of the hexes were simple to cast even if they made a big impact. Plus, it would be getting one over the Ravenclaws who might have read about the hexes, but haven't dealt with the actual magic involved in it.

"Really?" Luna blinked in surprise this time. "It doesn't really bother me that much."

"I hate it when people try to go through my stuff," Pansy said, scowling over the fact that the blonde didn't mind. "It's my stuff and they don't have the right to go through it."

"It always comes back after a while." Luna shrugged.

"I'm still going to teach you some of those hexes," Pansy decided. "I'll apply them to your trunk myself, if I have to. It's your stuff, Lovegood, they shouldn't have access to it."

"Thank you," Luna replied.

"Yeah, well." Pansy shrugged as she realized what she had agreed to. "I can't stand people like that."

"We're getting close," Luna said as she peered out of the window.

Pansy had actually squealed when she spotted Hogwart's highest tower poking through the trees. Luna clapped her hands together in delight as she also spotted the tower and Puppy began leaping everywhere once more, feeding off of their excitement.

This time it seemed as though the creature did notice that it was carrying them around, because it stopped and opened up. Its insides seemed to shrug and Pansy, Luna, and Puppy all tumbled out onto the ground. Before Pansy could curse the creature for their abrupt release, the creature sped away; looping around and heading back into the forest.

"At least we can see Hogwarts from here," Pansy grumbled as she brushed herself off.

Luna perked up, looking over into another clearing. "This way," she exclaimed as she darted forward.

"Hey, wait up," Pansy called as she followed after the Ravenclaw and the gytrash. When she finally made it into the clearing, Luna was standing in the middle of the clearing, petting thin air. "What are you doing?"

"Petting a thestral," Luna answered as she continued to pet thin air.

Pansy gave her a doubtful look; she knew that thestrals were invisible to anyone who hadn't seen death, and she hadn't seen death, but she couldn't hear anything. Still, Luna did seem to be petting something, even if it was thin air. Puppy also seemed to think that something was in the clearing, as he bounced around in large spaces.

So, Pansy held her hands out as she stepped forward, being cautious until she hit something solid. It vaguely felt like the thestral she had petted in care of medical creatures, so she accepted the fact that it was a thestral. "The thestral clearing is close to Hogwarts, right?" Pansy asked.

"We just need to follow that pathway," Luna said, as she nodded towards the other end of the clearing.

"Really? Then what are we waiting for?" Pansy asked as she perked up. She took a cautious step to the side and ran into another thestral.

"I always take the time to visit the thestrals," Luna answered, her voice sounding dreamy as usual. "Aren't they pretty?"

"They look like trees to me," Pansy answered.

"Really?" Pansy could see Luna blink and peer closer at the thestral she was petting. "It doesn't really look like a tree to me."

"That's because you can actually see the thestrals," Pansy snarked back.

"You can't?" Luna continued to blink in confusion.

"Not all Slytherins are murders, you know," Pansy replied.

"I never said that they were," Luna answered and left it like that. She looked over to where Pansy was trying to cautiously move her way through the herd of thestrals that surrounded her. "They like you."

"Yeah, I like them, too," Pansy grumbled as she stumbled over both a thestral and Puppy.

"Would you like some help?" Luna offered. She left her thestral and deftly maneuvered through the herd to get to Pansy's side.

"Everywhere I turn I keep running into the stupid things," Pansy explained, and glared at a nearby tree.

"They like you," Luna repeated. She had only seen them react this way to a few people: herself, Hagrid, and Harry. "I think they wish that you could see them."

"Oh right, I'll just go out and watch someone die, shall I?" Pansy sarcastically asked.

"They can't help being tied to death," Luna scolded. She grabbed Pansy's hand and started walking. "This way."

"And I can't help it that I've never seen someone die," Pansy replied. She still kept running into the thestrals, even with Luna's help, but it was definitely better than trying to go through on her own.

The thestrals seemed to follow them across the clearing and down the path, though Pansy wasn't exactly sure why. Things started to look familiar to her, though, while they walked down the pathway. Luna seemed to have a clear idea of where they were, but Pansy never really had much contact with the Forbidden Forest. She preferred to stay out of the forest and had only gone in when Care of Magical Creatures required it.

But, as the pathway got closer to the Hogwarts, Pansy recognized the other clearings that they had been dragged to for class. And through the tree tops, they could see the other towers of the castle, rather than just the tallest one.

Pansy increased her pace when she saw how close to the castle they were, but Luna was the one who started running. The girl was laughing in delight and her hair streamed behind her. Puppy started running after Luna and Pansy found herself joining them. Even the thestrals picked up their pace – their hoof beats echoed back oddly from the trees.

They broke through the tree line, not into another clearing, but onto actual Hogwarts grounds. The castle towered up ahead of them and Pansy laughed in relief. "We did it!" she exclaimed.

"We're alive!" Luna replied, looking as relieved as Pansy felt.

Everything was looking up and then the thestrals took off. Pansy couldn't' see them, but she could hear their panic and she felt the breeze that they made when they swooped past her.

Luna was watching the thestrals, but Pansy started to scan the area around them. Thus, she was the first one to see the werewolf. "Luna!" she called out, her voice shrill, "Run!"

Pansy started running, _too slow_. She grabbed Luna's hand as she passed the Ravenclaw – _it's going to get us! _And they were running as fast as they could towards the school._ We're not going to make it._

Just as that through rushed through Pansy's head, the werewolf jumped over them, turning as soon as it landed to bare its teeth at them. Pansy and Luna skidded to a stop and stared at the werewolf in horror. But, instead of attacking them, the werewolf did another impossible thing. The werewolf transformed back into a human.

Pansy and Luna stood paralyzed with fear and an overwhelming sense that this shouldn't be possible. _Werewolves can't be transformed in the daylight and they definitely shouldn't be able to control their transformation,_ Pansy wildly thought.

They were so caught up in the sight of the werewolf, which was why the voice startled them. Pansy didn't catch the unexpected word the first time, but she knew what it had been when Luna collapsed. She caught the word the second time, though, turning just in time to see the red flash of the stunning spell before everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Yay, more readers and reviews! Enjoy!

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Chapter 5: Surprise, Surprise

* * *

Pansy woke up to angry voices and Luna squeezing her hand. She squeezed Luna's hand in reply as she opened her eyes, but she didn't move just yet. She didn't want to bring attention to herself before she figured out what was going on.

The werewolf was in human form, and he seemed to be the one yelling at the other one. The man who had stunned Pansy and Luna spoke calmly and coldly, seemingly scolding the werewolf. It took a minute before Pansy could pay attention enough to make out actual words, as she finally shook the stunning spell off.

"You were supposed to capture them, not allow them to romp through the woods. How hard could capturing two little girls be?" the cold man asked.

"If I was allowed to hurt them, they wouldn't have stood a chance," the werewolf protested. "But I was told not to injure them and, in case you didn't know, it's hard to be a werewolf and not hurt someone."

"All you had to do was herd them over to me and you couldn't even do that right," the cold man exclaimed. "The Dark Lord will be displeased."

"Hey, I agreed to this whole experiment, but that doesn't mean that I'm willing to let you tear me a new one," the werewolf growled out. He sniffed and turned his nose up. "I don't understand why I couldn't just turn them now instead of back at the graveyard."

"What part of experimental don't you get?" the cold man snapped. "There's no telling what will happen when you turn them and the Alchemist wants to be there when that happens."

"Feh," the werewolf snorted before stalking away.

"The idiot is going to get us all killed," the cold man said to himself before leaving in the opposite direction.

"They are going to turn us into werewolves," Pansy hissed to Luna as she sat up.

"Experimental werewolves," Luna added. "I bet the Ministry is behind this."

"I'm inclined to agree with you only because the only other option is the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, it is the Dark Lord and that means that we're screwed," Pansy replied.

"How do you know that it is the Dark Lord? The Ministry could just be using that name as their cover, which would explain why they were fairly against the idea of Voldemort coming back," Luna said, looking positively cheerful.

"Because those men look like they are working for the Dark Lord and they said that the Dark Lord wouldn't be pleased. Therefore, the Dark Lord has us and we are screwed." Pansy scowled and tightened her free hand into a fist. "Don't they know who I am? Who we are?"

"We aren't wearing name tags," Luna pointed out.

"We're purebloods, even if the Lovegoods have fallen out of favor. We shouldn't be used as an experiment," Pansy spat out, being careful to keep her voice low.

"Apparently the Dark Tosser doesn't agree with you," the werewolf rumbled from behind them.

Pansy shrieked, pushing into Luna to get away from the werewolf. The werewolf chuckled and circled around them so that he was facing them a short distance away. "Dark Tosser?" Pansy found herself asking.

"Keh, I don't like the man, but that doesn't mean that I won't work with him. Who else will let me play with a couple of girls like you two?" the werewolf asked, a gleam in his eye. "So even though I would love to tear into you now, I'll wait. After all, it's only for a few hours."

"That's gross," Pansy informed the werewolf. She then blinked and wished that she could take it back, but the werewolf only chuckled and moved away from them.

"That really didn't sound right," Luna agreed after she was sure that the werewolf had lost interest in them.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this," Pansy said, her eyes scanning the clearing. Even though they were unbound, they really wouldn't be able to make it very far if they tried running. Plus, their wands had been taken, so they couldn't try to stand against the two Death Eaters. They really were doomed.

"Don't worry, we'll make it out," Luna comforted. "We've made it through this far."

"Maybe," Pansy mumbled, not having the heart to pierce Luna's bubble.

"I'm sure of it," Luna said.

Pansy nodded her head and there was silence for a few minutes, broken only by Luna's humming. The werewolf was now on the other side of the clearing, but Pansy couldn't get his words out of her head.

Pansy shook her head and repeated the words once more. "Dark Tosser?" Normally she would get angry about the disrespect shown to her 'lord,' but given how her 'lord' just set her up to at best be turned into a monster and at worst to die, she wasn't going to defend him.

"As I've said, yeah, I don't like the guy, but you don't have to like a guy to follow him," the werewolf said as he wandered back to them. He grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. "He gives me all that I want and I give him what he wants."

"And that is?" Pansy asked, trying to understand it.

"Bar toppers," Luna answered before the werewolf could say anything. The Ravenclaw was clutching Pansy's arm, but her voice was as carefree as it always was as she spoke to the werewolf. Pansy's respect for the girl rose a bit more. Of course, she thought, Loony might just sound like that no matter what.

"What?" the werewolf blinked, set back by Luna's suggestion.

"You know when you go to a muggle bar and you sit in one of those stools and have a lemonade?" Luna began. Pansy and the werewolf continued to blink at the girl. "Well, on the bar top they have little bowls of peanuts to attract barfish, which are creatures that love salt and they suck out excess liquid from those around it. And then they have the puzzles in another bowl to entertain the bartender when the drunks try to solve the puzzles.

"And what does this have to do with the Dark Lord and this guy?" Pansy asked.

"The werewolf wants the bar nuts to catch fish and the Dark Lord wants the puzzles to entertain himself," Luna answered as if it were obvious.

Pansy knew that she had spent too much time with Luna when she said, "Then the Dark Lord runs a bar?"

"The Death Eaters can be waiters," Luna exclaimed, quite taken with the idea.

"Then what would Potter be?" Pansy asked. The idea was so absorbed that she had to ask.

"Harry is an angry customer that they dragged in. Or maybe he's the Dark Lord's competitor," Luna mused.

"He has his own club named Lightning Bolt?" Pansy asked.

"Because of his scar!" Luna clapped her hands in delight. "And he won the property off of the Dark Lord, which is another reason why the Dark Lord is so bitter."

Pansy and Luna broke into laughter and the werewolf even chuckled in amusement. All laughter was cut off when the actual Death Eater stomped into the clearing. Pansy knew it was a bad idea to continue with the Death Eater there. The werewolf didn't seem interested in anything but killing them, but she knew that the Death Eater could torture them quite happily and still leave tehm alive for the Dark Lord's experiments.

"It's almost time, any sign of the brat yet?" the Death Eater asked.

"No, nothing yet," the werewolf replied, walking away from the two again. "Want me to go sniff him out?"

"It's bad enough h that you failed to capture these two in a timely manner, we do not want any search parties finding us." The Death Eater looked at the werewolf's waiting face and sighed. "The answer is no, we'll wait for the brat."

"Who are you calling a brat, old man?" a voice called out before its owner stepped into the clearing.

It felt like something had physically hit her when Pansy saw who it was. All of her breath left her body as she stared at the wizard who had just arrived. Pansy took a breath and felt anger flow in with the fresh air. "Draco Malfoy, just what in Merlin's name are you doing dealing with people like this?"

"Pansy?" Draco exclaimed as he noticed the two girls for the first time.

"And Luna," Pansy added in her snootiest voice. Luna laughed beside her.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Draco asked.

"They're going to turn us into _monsters_ on the Dark Tosser's whim and it's all _your_fault," Pansy answered.

"What?" Draco asked, looking from Pansy to the Death Eaters.

"Don't just stand there, do something," Pansy exclaimed.

"Do what? Do you really thing that your boy here can defeat us?" the Death Eater said as he leveled his wand on Draco.

"Of course not," Pansy replied. She sneered at Draco, displeased by him, "I expect him to die."

"That's rather harsh," Luna said.

"You can't kill me," Draco said, sounding frantic, "the Dark Lord's counting on me. No one else can do this."

"The Dark Lord managed without kids before," the Death Eater said.

"But then the Lightning Bolt opened up and Harry Potter started making money off of the younger crowd and the Dark Lord decided that he needed to change strategies," Luna said, interrupting the impending fight.

"He needs to do some more work. I'm never setting foot in his bar again," Pansy said.

"Do you think the Lightning Bolt serves werewolves?" the werewolf asked, enjoying the confused looks that they were getting.

"They would serve alcohol to you, but not humans," Luna answered. "I know the owner and I know that he's definitely against cannibalism."

"That implies that I'm still human," the werewolf replied.

"That's entirely up to you," Luna said.

"Enough of this nonsense," the Death Eater said as he lowered his wand. "Malfoy, make your report, make it quick and then get out."

"But you still haven't explained why you have two girls, two pureblood girls, here against their will," Draco protested.

"They were the first the first two students that we came across; it doesn't matter what kind of blood they have or who they are," the Death Eater replied.

"The Dark Lord is experimenting on his followers?" Draco asked, looking stunned and horrified.

"Do you really think he cares about any society? Even the pureblood society?" the werewolf asked, clearly amused as he broke into laughter. "He doesn't care at all about anyone but himself."

"Shut up, you," the Death Eater interrupted. "Malfoy, report."

"The project is almost done, I just need a little more time to get it connected," Draco absently said, still staring at Pansy and Luna.

"We were all tools," Pansy said, knowing that Draco wouldn't help them. "And now we're going to die."

"I'm not allowed to kill you just yet," the werewolf pointed out.

"I'm going to kill myself at the next opportunity if I'm turned into a werewolf," Pansy replied.

"Being a werewolf isn't that bad," the werewolf protested.

"Speak for yourself," Pansy said. "I don't want to be a werewolf and I don't want to die."

Out of nowhere, the gytrash bounded into the clearing, making a beeline over to where Pansy and Luna were and showing them with spectral hound kisses. All eyes went to the gytrash, which is why the Death Eater fell to the shouted stunning curse so easily. The Death Eater thudded to the ground and the werewolf backed away as none other than Harry Potter entered the clearing.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I'm glad that people are enjoying the story! Thanks for the reads and reviews!

* * *

Chapter 6: Escape

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"Let's not get trigger happy, there," the werewolf told Harry as he continued to back away. "You see, we have a few options here. One, you could try to stun me and I can tear you to shreds, or two, we could all go our separate ways."

"What?" Potter asked, clearly stunned by the capitulation.

"You see, I've been thinking. I don't really like the Dark Tosser's bar, I prefer to just kill rather than turn and his orders were beginning to chaff at me," the werewolf explained. "I'm not going to frequent the Lightning Bolt at all, but I'll let all of you go."

"Oh, how nice of you," Luna exclaimed and Pansy wasn't really sure if the Ravenclaw meant that or not.

"Yeah, yeah," the werewolf grumbled, a gleam in his eyes. He frisked the Death Eater and tossed all of the wands he found in Pansy's lap: her own, Luna's and even the Death Eater's wand. "I'll just make do with this guy."

"Right," Potter kept his wand trained on the werewolf as he circled around to where Pansy and Luna were scrambling to their feet.

Pansy handed Luna's wand back to her, but kept the Death Eater's wand. Both she and Harry kept their wands trained on the werewolf as they circled around the clearing to the area that led back to Hogwarts. When they reached the edge of the clearing, Pansy took the chance and darted her eyes over to look at Draco.

"Are you coming or not, Draco?" she asked.

"What?" Draco looked up, clearly startled. He seemed to snap out of it when he saw them and moved over to where they were.

"Let's go," Potter said as he motioned for Luna to go first. He waited until they were all past him before he followed, still keeping his wand at the ready.

They didn't relax until they were meters out of sight from the clearing. Pansy waited until she knew that the werewolf wasn't coming after them before she turned to Potter. "So, did they let the students in the search parties or are you just special?"

"I'm just special," Potter answered, rolling his eyes at the wording. He motioned to Puppy. "I was just going to check on how the search was going when the dog came tearing out of the forest. He insisted that I follow him into the forest and then led me to you guys."

"And you didn't think to get one of the adults searching?" Pansy asked. She motioned for Potter to take the lead again only because the Death Eaters had taken away her sense of direction by knocking her out and then moving her. Honestly, either of the boys would have worked as long as they were moving towards Hogwarts, but Draco still seemed to be in shock.

"There wasn't any time and I just didn't think," Potter said with a rueful look. "But we made it out okay, didn't we?"

"That was nice of Mister Werewolf," Luna said. She twirled around before Pansy grabbed her hand to get her moving again.

"Werewolf?" Potter asked in surprise as he stumbled.

"The man you left unstunned was a werewolf," Pansy informed him.

"You left him unstunned, too," Potter protested. He looked uncertain. "Besides, it's not the full moon for a few weeks yet."

"It doesn't matter with him," Pansy replied.

"What?" Potter's eyes went wide. "But that's impossible."

"Not anymore, thanks to the Dark Lord. So, let's get moving again," Pansy said.

They fell silent once more as they cautiously moved through the forest; although it was obvious that Potter still had some more questions, particularly for Draco.

"We should make it real," Luna said out of the blue.

"What?" Pansy asked, navigating around Puppy and a fall tree branch.

"The Lightning Bolt, we should make it real," Luna clarified. "We can't do anything about the Death Eater bar, but we can make the Lightning Bolt real."

"We could, couldn't we?" Pansy replied, enjoying the looks of confusion on both the boys' faces. "You know the owner and he has the money for it."

"The people, too," Luna added.

"What are you two talking about?" Potter finally asked, looking more to Luna than to Pansy.

"It's impolite not to include the rest of the people in your party in your conversation," Draco absently said, obviously still focused on his worldview falling to pieces. "Even the werewolf knows about it."

"He was there when Luna first brought it up," Pansy replied with a shrug.

"The Lightning Bolt is Harry's club," Luna answered.

"You mean the DA?" Potter asked, blinking in confusion.

"No, she means the physical building where you provide entertainment, dancing, food and drinks," Pansy answered.

"And the most important thing of all, sanctuary," Luna added.

"I have a place like that?" Potter asked.

"You will," Luna replied, grinning in excitement.

"We'll make sure of it," Pansy promised.

"You're siding with Potter in all of this?" Draco exclaimed. He came to a halt and stared at Pansy in accusation.

"At least Potter would ask nicely before turning me into a monster," Pansy shot back.

"Wait, what?" Potter asked as they all came to a halt.

"They kidnapped us to turn us into the new kind of werewolves for the Dark Lord: bar toppers," Luna answered. "Pansy's a bit broken up about it."

"I guess so," Potter replied, still looking a bit lost.

"Let's face it, Draco, the Dark Lord is not a good choice anymore," Pansy said, ignoring the other conversation. "Maybe it was back in our fathers' time, but not anymore. The werewolf might not be a good person, but he's right about one thing: the Dark Lord only cares about himself."

"It might be different for you, Pansy. You might be able to run away, but I'm expected to do something and, if I fail, he'll kill me and my family," Draco shouted.

"And that's the sort of person you want to follow? Someone who would kill you if you failed?" Pansy asked. "I've seen you struggling, Draco."

"I can't just walk away, he won't' let me go," Draco said. "I've got no choice but to do this."

"Are you a Slytherin or not?" Pansy demanded.

"I'm sure if you went to Dumbledore," Potter broke in.

"And say what, that I've been trying to kill him so he should save me return?" Draco sarcastically asked.

"I knew it," Potter muttered to himself and Luna smacked his arm.

"Don't go to Dumbledore, go to the Lightning Bolt," Luna said. "Ambushes can turn into traps quite easily if you don't pay attention."

"Could that work?" Pansy asked. She didn't know just what Draco was meant to do, but it was a safe bet that the Dark Lord was trying to get into the school once again.

"You mean use their own plot against them?" Draco asked in shock.

"You're working on something in the Room of Requirement, right?" Potter asked, thinking up something.

"Yes," Draco reluctantly said. He wasn't going to say anything more, but Pansy glared at him and he continued. "A vanishing cupboard that connects to another cupboard."

"Could we trap them in the room of requirement?" Potter wondered to himself.

"There are lots of interesting creatures in the forest," Luna said. She bent down to pet Puppy, who was sticking close to the two girls. "Have you met our Puppy yet, Harry? He adopted us recently."

"I've met him, Luna," Potter replied, smiling at her. "He's a spectral hound, right?"

"A gytrash," Pansy agreed.

"We heard about them in Defense Against the Dark Arts in our third year," Potter said with a nod.

"Who cares about the dog? Shouldn't we be focused on getting out of here so that we can get on with figuring out what to do about the Dark Lord?" Draco asked. "I for one do not want to be ot here at night."

"You're going to have to get used to Puppy, Draco. He's ours now," Pansy said. She darted a look around before tugging Luna up from the ground. "You're right, though, we should be moving. Even if the forest isn't that bad during the night, it still would be good to get back home."

"Not that bad at night?" Draco spluttered.

"Where the hell do you think we've been these past two days?" Pansy demanded. "All you've got to do is know just where to sleep."

"Away from the giant spiders," Luna said.

Pansy laughed at the look on Draco's face and reached out to snag his hand as well. "Let's just get going."

"Good idea," Potter said as he started walking once more.

Pansy dropped Draco's hand after he started moving, so that they would have their hands free in case anything happened. If there was one thing that Pansy had learned from the romp in the woods, it was that something always happened. The forest was not a safe place, as they've experienced many times.

"I wonder if we've broken some kind of record," Pansy mused as they walked. "I mean, in student accounts only, as I'm certain that the grounds keeper has spent more time in the Forest, since it's his job and all."

"I don't know," Potter mused in reply.

"We've been in here for about two days, which is more than I've heard about from anyone, including you," Pansy said.

"I wonder how long my dad spent in the Forbidden Forest at a time," Potter said. "I know he used to spend some time in the forest, but I don't know if they really spent more than a night at a time. I'll have to ask Professor Lupin."

"Why would you ask him?" Pansy asked, wrinkling her nose. While she had nothing really against their professor from their third year, she had now had more than her full of wearwolves.

"He was friends with my dad back when they were in school," Potter explained. He made a sound like he was about to add more to the story, but held himself back.

"I get that Lupin might have spent time in the forest for what he is, but why would your dad spend that time, as well?" Pansy asked.

"His dad used to go out to play with Professor Lupin's wolf," Luna answered for Potter. "They even named him; right, Harry?"

"Er, I guess so?" Potter more asked than replied. "They did give him a nickname, but I don't think that's totally right."

"Will you all just shut up and walk?" Draco grumbled as he stalked ahead of them. He moved with such purpose and so easily that Pansy guessed that the clearing had been his usual meeting place. She tightened her grip on her wand, but resisted the urge to curse Draco. Draco really wasn't the reason that they had been chased into the forest and they were close to finally getting out of the forest. Things finally looked good and she hoped it lasted.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Voldemort's bar is named 'The Death Eaters' because he doesn't have that big of an imagination. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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Chapter 7: Fighting in Earnest

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Luna and Potter kept up a decent stream of conversation, despite Draco's distemper. Pansy chimed in a time or two, but was content just listen and enjoy Draco's grumblings. None of this bothered her at the thought of the shower that awaited her back at Hogwarts. Most of the stuff that happened in the Forbidden Forest she could handle, including Luna herself, but going without her daily cleaning rituals was the worst part of this whole event.

They were just getting into sight of the castle once more when a spell hit the ground in front of them. "Not again," Pansy called out as they all ducked for cover.

"Did you really think it would be that easy? That I would just roll over and let the four of you just go?" the werewolf asked. He chuckled as he stepped out from behind a tree.

"I told you that we should have stunned him," Pansy told Potter.

"You had your chance, too," Potter retorted once more. He shot a stunning curse at the werewolf, but the werewolf simple stepped to the side.

"Feeling frisky, aren't we?" the werewolf asked.

"Will you just get my wand back?" the Death Eater asked as he stepped into sight. He scowled at the werewolf. "I don't see why you had to give my wand away."

"Because it wasn't my wand," the werewolf said as he twirled his own wand around. His grin widened when he saw Potter's shocked face. "Oh, you thought that I was just a simple beast? Or maybe just a muggle turned creature? Heh, like the Dark Tosser would even bother to use trash for something that important." The werewolf strode further into the clearing, ignoring the ferocious looks that the four students were giving him and the growls that Puppy was sounding. "I really had you fooled, didn't I? Are you going to cry to your mommies now?"

"Would you even let us?" Pansy shot back before sending a blood boiling curse back at him. As if that signaled something, the fight started in earnest. Despite the fact that they were sixth years, the quartet had the advantage until the werewolf managed to summon the Death Eater's wand back. Then they were up against two experienced, dark adults.

Pansy wasn't surprised that Potter and Draco could hold their own against the Death Eaters, but she was slightly surprised to see that Luna could hold her own. But then, hadn't she heard a rumor that Looney had gone with Potter's group to the Department of Mysteries to fight off Death Eaters? Pansy shoved that thought out of her mind and shouted another spell.

The werewolf laughed as Potter shot off sparks into the air before sending another stunning curse at the Death Eater. "What do you think that's going to do? All of this fighting really is pointless."

"Will you just turn already? We have a deadline and you've squandered most of it playing around," the Death Eater snapped at the werewolf.

The werewolf growled back, but shoved his wand up his sleeve. He backed away a little and then smoothly turned into his wolf form. While Luna shielded them from the Death Eater, Pansy, Draco, and Potter focused on trying to keep the werewolf away.

The werewolf leaped, heading straight towards Pansy, and he was flattened by a train. Or, Pansy was sure that was what it felt like for the werewolf as he was slammed by at least five different spells that hadn't come from any of the four students. The teachers searching for them had finally found them; just in the nick of time.

The teachers took over the fight, forming a shield in front of the students. Pansy was surprised to see a few extra faces in the mix: including Remus Lupin. Their old Defense teacher moved to confront the werewolf, not afraid to take physical attacks from the beast. Then again, the reason that Lupin had left his position had been due to the fact that he was a werewolf.

The Death Eater was throwing deadlier spells against the adults. That's not to say that the Death Eater hadn't been trying to hurt them, but Pansy supposed that the four weren't inconsequential. Potter was the bloody Boy-Who-Lived and at the top of the Dark Lord's hit list – meaning that only the Dark Lord could kill him – Draco was currently on a mission for the Dark Lord, and the two girls were needed alive for the Dark Lord's experiment. Therefore; the four students had to stay alive and relatively unhurt, but that restriction did not apply to the adults in the forest.

One of the adults, one with spiky pink hair, pulled the four students aside and held out a tree branch. "Hang on, this is a portkey to safety," the pink haired woman ordered.

"Wait, how do we know that you're really Tonks?" Potter asked. He caught Luna's hand before she could grab onto the branch.

The woman sighed. "Well, I guess I can't blame you from being paranoid, since they really are out to get you." The woman's hair slowly changed from the bright pink to a dark blue. "Does that prove it?"

"Right, grab on, everyone," Potter said, obviously satisfied that the woman was who he thought she was. As Pansy thought, she recognized who the woman was: Nymphadora Tonks, one of the many relatives that the Malfoys ignored all connections to.

"Why should I listen to you?" Draco argued.

"Well, if you really _want _to keep fighting against Death Eaters, go ahead. I hope you have fun," Potter shot back and Pansy blinked at the sarcasm that the Gryffindor showed.

"Just grab on, cousin," Tonks said as she grabbed his hand and moved it to the branch.

Potter put Luna's hand on the branch before grabbing on himself. Pansy realized that she was the last one to go and quickly latched onto the branch. After all of those days of wanting to get out of the Forbidden Forest, she wasn't going to miss out on a chance to instantly leave. In the rush of things, she almost forgot about Puppy and she jerked the branch down so that the gytrash could bite onto it.

"Activate," Tonks spoke the simple password.

Pansy felt the jerk at her navel as the portkey activated and held onto the branch until the spell ended. Potter fell down as they landed, dragging Luna down with him. Surprisingly, Tonks also fell as they landed, dragging Draco down with her. Potter she could understand, as he was practically muggleborn, but she had expected better of Tonks, who was a halfblood. Still, that meant that only her and Puppy were standing.

"Sorry, cousin, I can't help being clumsy," Tonks said as she helped Draco up and started to dust him off.

"Stop it," Draco protested, batting at her hands.

"I told you that we would survive," Luna commented, not bothering to get up from the floor.

"We made it out of the Forest," Pansy muttered as she glanced around. She was surprised to find that the portkey had taken them to the Hogs Head down in Hogsmeade instead of anywhere else. Maybe Tonks had been looking for a drink?

"Wotcher, Abe. Sorry to just pop in on you so abruptly," Tonks cheerfully called out to the man at the bar.

Potter finally recovered and scrambled up from the floor. He made a face as he tried to brush himself off. Luna still didn't seem to want to get up from the floor and was now drawing patterns in the dirt. Pansy sighed and hauled the Ravenclaw up.

"We'd like two rooms, please," Pansy ordered as she brushed the worst of the dirt off of Luna.

"We were supposed to head back to the Castle," Tonks said in protest.

"The fight's still going on, who's to say that more Death Eaters don't show up?" Pansy pointed out. "Besides, do you know how long I've been in the Forest? This is not the best place to get cleaned up, but it will do for a start. A room, if you would."

"That'll be 10 Galleons," the bartender spoke up. He didn't seem to care about the gytrash sniffing around his bar.

"Done," Pansy said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her money pouch. She pulled out ten coins and slapped them onto the bar. "Come on, Luna, let's get cleaned up." Pansy grabbed Luna by the arm and dragged her up the stairs.

"Come on, you two, it might be best to wait upstairs," Tonks said as she grabbed the two boys. She grimaced and brushed at their shoulders once more. "You might want to get cleaned up, too."

Pansy ignored the sounds of the three following them up the stairs. She nodded in greeting to the portrait of the young girl and entered the first open room. "Don't touch anything just yet," Pansy told Luna. She attacked the room with cleaning charms before the Ravenclaw's attention span ended. The room still looked dingy after the large bout of cleaning spells, but Pansy judged it clean enough to walk through. There was no way in Hades that she would ever spend a night in the room, but then she was determined to make it back to Hogwarts for the night.

Pansy left Luna in the bedroom and entered the bathroom to use the same bombardment of cleaning spells on the fixtures within. The bathroom was absolutely disgusting, but at least it seemed to be more caked in actual dirt rather than anything else. Pansy didn't stop cleaning until she could actually see her reflection. The bottom of the tub was a dull brown instead of the white it was supposed to be, but that was simply from the ground in dirt that stained everything in the pub.

Tonks poked her head in just as Pansy was finishing cleaning the bathroom. The dark blue haired woman looked around in surprise. "I can't believe you got it this clean. I think this is the cleanest it's been in years."

"I wasn't going to shower with the way it was before." Pansy was unable to stop her nose from wrinkling in disgust.

"Anyway, the boys are in the other room and I'm heading back downstairs to keep an eye out on things. I want all of you to stay up here until I get confirmation that the Death Eaters are gone," Tonks informed the two girls.

"We'll stay up here," Pansy agreed.

"I'm glad that you're safe," Tonks said before leaving.

"We're safe," Pansy repeated, hardly believing it even now. She turned back to the bathroom. "Make sure the door is locked, will you, Luna? I'm going to take a shower."

"Have fun," Luna called out, busy inspecting the contents of the nightstand.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: And the story comes to an end. A sequel isn't planned at the moment, but who knows what will happen. Thank you to all who read and for all of the reviews!

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Epilogue: Lightning Bolt

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Pansy got her wish and they were able to go back to Hogwarts in time for another quick shower before dinner. Afterwards, the four of them were escorted down to the infirmary, where Madam Pomfrey checked them over. They spent the night in the infirmary, the two boys quietly sniping at each other until Pansy got tired and snapped at them both to stop the bickering. Despite the fact that it was an infirmary bed, Pansy slept well. A hospital bed was better than where she had spent the past few nights, although the cushions of the carriage beast were not that bad.

In the morning, Madam Pomfrey let them go and they were taken up to Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster was there as well as the heads of the houses. Pansy told most of the events, as Luna seemed to focus more on the creatures that they saw in the forest than the Death Eaters or what they actually went through. The Ravenclaw practically waxed poetic over Puppy in the hopes of actually being able to keep the gytrash. Of course, Pansy mused to herself, she doubted that they'd be able to keep the gytrash away. After all, the gytrash was the one that adopted them and not the other way around.

Draco refused to talk about what he was doing in the Forest, but Potter shared all about how Puppy had fetched him and what he had walked in on. That added another point in Puppy's favor, although she suspected that it took away a point for Professor Snape. Draco finally explained how he was there by making up a story of spotting the two girls being kidnapped by the Death Eater and the werewolf. Pansy was sure that everyone knew that his story was false, but Dumbledore let it go.

That meeting in the Headmaster's office would have been the perfect time to bring up her change in thinking and sides – even if Snape was supposedly on the Dark Lord's side, she knew that he wouldn't do anything if she threw her lot on Dumbledore's side – but, she kept quiet. She might not be on the Dark Lord's side anymore, but that didn't mean that she wanted to be involved in the war for the side of the light. Besides, if her plans worked out, she'd have a different side to pledge her loyalty.

After the meeting, life went back to normal. Potter walked off the moment they left the Headmaster's meeting and Luna wandered off with Puppy. Draco shifted nervously for a moment before he slipped away, determined to ignore Pansy. Pansy let them go, deciding to ignore the fact that she should be in class and headed back to her dorm room.

Life was supposed to be back to what it was before she and Luna had gotten lost in the Forbidden Forest, but it didn't work out that way. For one, Pansy and Luna's adventure was the latest news and they were the newest celebrities. Pansy used her wand to keep the annoying gossipers away and Puppy kept Luna safe from them, since people were afraid of the spectral hound that followed Luna all over the place. The only time Puppy was seen away from the Ravenclaw was when he would bound over to Pansy for pets. The gytrash was the second thing that had changed, giving Luna and Pansy a reason to interact.

There were subtler changes that were caused by the trip into the Forbidden Forest. Draco had given up on the vanishing cabinets and the mission handed to him by the Dark Lord. That wasn't to say that he was actually talking to Pansy again, but instead of vanishing into thin air, he spent his time hidden up in his dorm rooms. Potter no longer glared at her whenever he saw her, in fact, he would sometimes greet her whenever he saw her. That put the Weasley in all kinds of fits, but he had obviously reconsidered what he thought of her from what he saw in the forest.

Another thing that changed was Hogwarts had grown more careful. The werewolf had escaped, although the Death Eater had been captured and it was starting to be more obvious that there really was a danger, even at Hogwarts. The war had started and it was spreading.

That was the reason why Pansy deliberately caught Luna's attention before lunch one night. Puppy bounded right over to Pansy, almost knocking her over as he greeted her. She paid proper attention to the gytrash before nodding a greeting to the Ravenclaw. "It's nice to see you, Luna."

"Hello, Pansy. How's Draco doing with that Emuleth?" Luna asked in return.

"It's bothering him less, although it's still hanging around," Pansy answered. She smiled as she heard Draco snort from behind her.

"That would be why he's still keeping away from you," Luna said.

"Right." Pansy hooked her arm around Luna's and led her over to the Gryffindor table. Draco followed after them, curious as to what Pansy was planning on doing. Pansy got the attention of everyone as she sat down across from Harry Potter. "Hello, Potter."

"Hello, Parkinson," Potter replied, blinking at them. "Hello, Luna."

"Hello, Harry, Ron, Hermione," Luna replied before turning her attention back to Puppy.

"What are you doing here?" the Weasley asked, glaring at Pansy.

"We're here to talk to Potter about locations," Pansy answered.

"Locations?" Potter asked.

"For the Lightning Bolt. We have to pick the best location for it, especially considering that we still have another year in school after this," Pansy explained. "Hogsmeade might be the best place to start out, as we'll get the students as well as the population of the town."

"I think Hogsmeade would be lovely," Luna said.

"Er, wouldn't we run into opposition from The Three Broomsticks?" Harry said the first thing that popped into his head. "I mean, that's always filled up, while the Hogs Head is always empty."

"Yes, but you've seen the state of that place," Pansy replied. "Although you do have a point about The Three Broomsticks. Still, we might be able to get away with luring some of the younger crowd away from it. After all, as you've said, it's always packed, especially during school visits."

"What's this Lightnight Bold you're talking about?" Weasley asked.

"Lightning Bolt," Potter instantly corrected. "It's a club that Luna and Parkinson thought up in the Forbidden Forest."

"It's why the Dark Tosser is after Harry," Luna interjected.

"The Lightning Bolt will be something different, providing food and entertainment as well as sanctuary in this time of war," Pansy said.

"And how are you going to get all of this started?" Draco asked from behind Pansy. He stepped closer and scowled. "As you've said, we're still in school and there is a war going on. There's no way that they're going to let you run a business in Hogsmeade."

"Which is why we would need to hire some people to work the club in the beginning," Pansy replied.

"And where are you going to get all of the money to do this? I mean, I doubt that Potter is rich enough to get this thing off the ground and be able to really live off of his money," Draco said.

"He's not the only one with money and the club will break even after a while and then he'll start gaining money," Pansy shot back.

"This still isn't going to be easy to get off of the ground," Draco said as he shook his head.

"But I'll do it," Potter declared.

"What?" Weasley and Granger chorused as they gaped at their friend.

"You're following a Slytherin's idea?" Weasley added.

"It's Luna's idea, too," Potter pointed out.

"She's the one who first came up with it," Pansy added.

"And this is a good thing, Ron. Think about it, a place you could go if you've got nowhere else to go. A place to distract people, just like your brothers are doing," Potter said. Pansy got the feeling that part of what Potter said was directed more towards Draco and herself than the Weasley boy.

"But, is this really a good idea? You'd have to find someone to run the club and we have our NEWTS coming up," Granger worried.

"Not to mention Quidditch," Weasley added.

"You'll definitely need help to get this up and running," Draco commented. He hesitated before speaking. "I could probably send out some owls, inquiring about some of the things you'll need."

Potter also hesitated before answering, "That'd be good, thanks."

"If you're going to go through with this crazy idea, you might as well go through it the correct way," Draco said before walking off.

"See, being nice to him didn't kill you," Luna said to Harry.

"No, it didn't," Potter replied, staring off after Draco with an odd look on his face.

"It's probably best that you don't stare after him for too long," Pansy commented, catching Potter's attention. "People already have the wrong idea about you two."

"What?" Potter asked, staring at her in confusion.

"They're wondering just how interested in Draco you are. I'm sure that this meeting has already fed fuel to the fire," Pansy answered. She smirked at Granger, the only one of the trio to really get what she was talking about, and stood up. "Feel like having lunch outside, Luna? We can throw sticks for Puppy."

"As long as we steer clear of the Forest. I think it's been infested with Blue Toed Screets," Luna answered as she got up. The Ravenclaw led the gytrash out of the Great Hall, forgetting to take any lunch with her. Pansy rolled her eyes and grabbed a couple of sandwiches.

"I'll see you later, Potter," she said before following after Luna. Life had changed with that ramble through the Forbidden Forest, but Pansy kind of thought that it had changed for the better. After all, who else could say that they managed to get Harry Potter to open up a business? They were going to make a lot of money.


End file.
